BMW-Toyota looking to revolutionise electric vehicle technology

Carmakers' bosses say partnership will result in great progress in battery development.

BMW's marketing head, Ian Robertson, has said the alliance between BMW and Toyota is likely to herald “big steps” in battery technology.

“We’ve been genuinely impressed by the speed and quality of the learnings,” said Robertson. “The teams are working very well together. We are making some big steps, especially in battery performance and efficiency. We are now looking at how we can use the learnings together, because there’s no question they will make electric cars far more attractive.”

Robertson added that the joint-venture team had also made progress with hydrogen fuel cell development, but cautioned that the technology remained some way off because of infrastructure problems.

The results of the collaboration between the two companies are already being seen. The new Toyota Verso, which goes into production in January next year in Turkey, will be powered by a BMW turbodiesel engine that develops 110bhp.